Sale determined to avenge narrow loss against Bristol

A real arm-wrestle at the AJ Bell last weekend saw Bristol come away with a one-point victory against Sale: 

 A delighted Pat Lam hailed Bristol’s defence post-match. 

“That’s what wins you finals, defence. We were really disappointed the way we defended against Northampton.   

“We got a lot of wrong. There was a lot of system errors.  

“To come here to Sale and not concede a try here is massive with the firepower they have up front.  

“It was a real testament to the boys. I knew they were really disappointed and we put the work in this week. We had a great session on the Tuesday and it unfolded here.  

“I am pleased and really proud of the boys because we’ve never won here since I have been at the club and it has always been tough and physical. 

“The one thing that was unbelievable was the guts, the fight of the team. 

“We don’t look like a team that is in tenth position in the Premiership. We look like a team that is pretty together and that’s because we are.  

“We earned the right to have our second half at home and we’ve got 80 minutes plus to get us into the quarter-finals, which would be awesome. 

“We had a game plan, where with it being a 160-minute game we needed to not feed them, and unfortunately we were doing that through some discipline and skill errors.  

“We spoke about that at half-time that there was a lot of opportunity, but we had to kick well, pass well, carry well and manage the breakdown.  

“If we get those basics done really well, that will help us.” 

SEE: How the Champions Cup quarter-finals work and how things stand ahead of the second leg 

This weekend, Bristol can expect to face a furious onslaught from Sale as the latter look to settle the score after defeat on their home turf.  

Sale boss Alex Sanderson was concerned that his troops had not sewn the game up before Semi Radradra’s decisive try and also noted that Sale did not make the most of their opportunities, having recorded zero tries in the match. 

“I’m not bothered about the result, honestly. It’s the performance.  

“Our inability to keep the ball in attack for more than two or three phases and our poor discipline post the collision.   

“In the first half we gave them all the piggy backs.  

“Radradra has got that in him, but it shouldn’t even come to that in terms of the result. 

“We had the opportunities, but we just couldn’t keep the ball. 

“We need to work on our fundamentals. It’s simple ball placement and urgency from the inside. 

“We just didn’t get enough right today enough of the time to give us sustained pressure to convert territory into points. 

“Our best attacking rugby was when we didn’t have a nine on the field, which is saying something. 

“So I’m just frustrated. We didn’t fire a shot really. We’ll come back next week and do just that.” 

With the first leg behind them, Sanderson expects a much more positive result this week. 

“We intend to go deep in this competition.  

“There’s a point in this tie, so it’s neither here nor there. We’ll go down there to win the game next week.  

“One point doesn’t make a difference either way.” 

Ahead of the clash, Lam said: 

“It’s all finals now and our whole season. We know it’s on the line, but we have a lot of confidence that the boys are tight and we will better, but so will they.  

“We’ve just got to make sure we get our tactics right and have a really good prep, and most importantly hope all our fans get there to support us. It could be a big occasion for the club.”

Key facts:

• Bristol won the 1st leg against Sale – their first encounter in the European Cup – despite scoring their lowest tally of points in an away game in the competition.
• Sale have lost their last seven games against Premiership opposition in the Heineken Champions Cup, with their three away games in that run coming by an average margin of 28points.
• Sale have won just two of their last 18 away matches in the Heineken Champions Cup (L16); however, their two wins during that period have both come in their last four away games, Including last season’s Round of 16 tie against Scarlets (57-14).
• Bristol have averaged 14 offloads per game in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, only Stade Toulousain (17.3) have made more; they have also made 175 passes per game, the third highest average.
• Sale boast the best goal kicking success rate of any team to reach the knockout stage of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup (88%) and the second best overall, behind Glasgow Warriors (90%).
• Sale have averaged 7.5 dominant tackles per game in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, more than any other team; Sale and Bristol were two of the four teams to make around-high six dominant tackles last weekend (also Racing 92 and Leicester Tigers).
• Bristol’s Semi Radradra has crossed the try line in each of his last two games in the Heineken Champions Cup, scoring three tries in total, after scoring once in his previous eight games in the competition.
• No player has claimed more lineouts than Sale’s Lood de Jager in the Heineken Champions Cup this season (31, level with Peter O’Mahony); he claimed 11 lineouts last weekend, only two players have taken more lineouts in a game in the competition this season (William Griffiths and Rory Arnold).